As the group stepped through the teleportation gate, they plunged into a long, suffocating corridor, stretching into endless gloom.
The air was thick with the stench of mold and rusted iron. Black moss crept over the stone walls, and ancient glyphs pulsed faintly like living veins writhing in the shadows.
The moment their first footstep echoed, the ground trembled.
From cracks in the walls, creatures slithered out Armored Shadehounds, Common-ranked beasts shaped like hounds, their bodies encased in stone armor, and their eyes glowing with a cold, dim light.
"Battle formation!" Draven roared, swinging his Soul-Sever Blade as he stepped in front of the party.
Kael Phong instantly summoned Canon Turtle, its twin cannons humming as they charged with mana. Behind him, Ancient Spiritwood Fiend surged from the earth, roots coiling through the stone floor, ready to strike.
The battle erupted in the narrow corridor.
Draven led the charge, his blade carving through beast after beast. Spiritwood roots burst from the ground, constricting and crushing anything they caught. Canon Turtle fired bolts of lightning-infused shells, blasting walls and beasts alike into ruin.
But the deeper they fought, the more Shadehounds kept appearing.
"Something's spawning them!" Eiden shouted, eyes scanning the corridor.
He leapt onto a high pedestal. His gaze sharpened as he caught the shimmer of a mana obelisk, hidden behind a spatial illusion.
"There! In the center, that's the spawning core!"
Draven didn't hesitate. He channeled his strength and unleashed Voidrend Slash, cleaving through the air with terrifying force.
BOOM!!
The explosion blew out a chunk of the hallway.
The Shadehounds howled in agony and crumbled one by one into dust.
Silence returned, broken only by ragged breaths and the scattering of rubble.
At the corridor's end, a massive stone door loomed, engraved with the image of a half-closed eye.
They stepped through it.
The door sealed shut behind them as the corridor collapsed in their wake.
The next chamber was a vast circular hall.
And from its center, Phantom Serpent of Illusions slithered into view, its long armor-plated body shimmered in purple-black light, and its eyes blazed red like twin daggers. Each movement bent the air itself, warping its shadow unnaturally.
"Careful!" Eiden warned. "It's casting a technique!"
The serpent lunged. Draven slashed, but the blade passed cleanly through smoke.
Shadowphase Shift, a technique that swaps the serpent's body with its shadow in an instant.
It reemerged behind them.
Its tail whipped across the air. Spiritwood's roots barely blocked the strike, several were scorched into ash.
"We have to lock down its shadow!" Kael shouted, a plan forming in his eyes.
He ordered Spiritwood to form a sealing ring, rooting into every corner of the hall, slowing the mana flow to dampen spatial response.
Canon Turtle opened fire, blasting a barrage of suppressive shots, boxing the serpent into a narrow kill zone.
"Wait for the moment it lags, before the shift!"
There... one heartbeat. A stutter. The Phantom Serpent hesitated between body and shadow.
"Now!" Kael roared.
Draven unleashed Shadowbreak Cleave, slashing from head to tail. The serpent screeched, its armor shattered. Canon Turtle's final soul-infused shot slammed into its skull.
With a burst of black smoke, the Phantom Serpent disintegrated.
A purple gemstone etched with the image of a serpent clattered to the floor.
The final gate opened.
They were exhausted. But forward they went.
Stone stairs curved upward, leading them into a vast chamber suspended in a void.
Light from an arcane array above beamed down, illuminating a floating object at the chamber's center the heart of the Forbidden Dragon, bound in midair.
Dozens of black chains wrapped around it, engraved with burning ancient runes, twisted like demonic roots.
Then, a deep growl rumbled through the ruined pillars.
Blood-red eyes gleamed in the darkness.
From behind the heart, a massive beast stepped forward Obsidian Flamehound King, an Ancient Legendary-ranked monster once sealed alongside the dragon's heart.
Its body was plated with jagged volcanic armor, smoke billowing from between its cracked plates. Each step split the ground and sent waves of darkness creeping outward.
It didn't need to roar again.
One lunge, and a torrent of black fire exploded from its jaws, searing the very air.
Spiritwood's roots tried to block it, but were incinerated in a heartbeat.
"There's no turning back," Draven said, tightening his grip on the Soul-Sever Blade.
He charged, blade clashing against the beast's armor, but barely left a scratch. The Flamehound roared and slammed him into a stone pillar.
Canon Turtle deployed dual mana cannons, firing a twin barrage.
The first volley cracked the beast's shoulder armor. The second hit its rear leg, forcing it to stumble.
It retaliated, unleashing a firestorm that incinerated an entire row of stone columns.
Eiden chanted in ancient tongue, forming a seal array that suppressed the monster's regenerative abilities.
Spiritwood lashed from below, roots binding all four legs for a precious few seconds.
"Now!" Kael shouted.
Draven lunged, unleashing Soulcleave Slash, a full-power strike from crown to heart.
The Flamehound's armor shattered, black blood burst forth like molten ink.
Then Canon Turtle's final soul shell struck its forehead
BOOM!!!
The beast's head exploded. Its massive body crashed to the ground, leaving a crater of scorched stone and a steaming black-violet Blood Core.
The Flamehound was slain.
In the silence that followed, Spiritwood swept away the remnants of its lingering dark mana.
The Dragon's Heart still floated, beating slowly, each pulse a thunderous drum from the abyss.
Around it: three layers of seals an inner golden veil, a middle silver-white radiance, and an outer ring of burning black runes pulsing with living flame.
Eiden approached. His eyes gleamed with grave realization.
"This isn't just a seal. It's feeding the heart, anchoring it to this world."
He laid his hand on the outer ring, chanting in the language of the ancients.
Three wheels of light emerged, turning like gears of fate around his hand. Mana surged.
Cracks formed in the seals.
BOOM!!
A violet bolt from above shattered the first layer.
CRACK!
The golden layer fractured like glass.
And finally, the black rune circle burst apart, runes crumbling into ash and spiraling into the void.
The Dragon's Heart lay exposed, raw and pulsing.
"No hesitation." Draven whispered.
With a cry of resolve, he raised his blade and slashed.
The blade pierced straight through the heart.
A sound like the roar of a dragon reversed through time echoed across the realm.
Black blood exploded outward. The temple shook violently.
The heart shattered into hundreds of shards, each one igniting from its own mana and vanishing into the void.
In its place, a soft light rose from the broken altar.
An ancient chest emerged, rising slowly as though unearthed from a thousand-year slumber.
**
Meanwhile, above on the battlefield...
Louis and GaleKaze had fought for hours.
The dragon had shed its old skin and emerged reborn, stronger than anyone could have imagined.
Both men were bloodied, their breathing ragged.
In a moment of lapse, Louis was slashed, his sword sent flying.
GaleKaze dashed to defend, but was struck by a blast of cursed fire. His body went limp, burned and blackened.
The Forbidden Dragon reared back, mouth wide, preparing to finish Louis.
But then..
It froze.
Cracks splintered across its body. Mana erupted from within like a forge in meltdown.
Louis rolled back, just in time.
BOOM!!!
A cataclysmic explosion tore the beast apart.
Its corpse fragmented, dark metal turning to ash and scattered across the sky.
And among the falling light...
Lania Snowveil was freed.
The purple magic that had imprisoned her faded, dissolving like morning mist.
[End of Chapter 18]
Next Chapter 19: The End of a Journey, The Beginning of Hope